Integra Telecom deepens cloud presence with unified security service

Integra Telecom is making good on its cloud promise with a new cloud security services suite that will address both its traditional SMB (small to medium business) customers as well as its emerging regional enterprise target customers.

The first product to come out of Integra's Cloud Security Services suite is Cloud Firewall Service, a managed network-based threat prevention service that provides inbound and outbound Internet access that does not require on-premise equipment or additional IT resources.

Instead of using "port blocking" schemes for network protection used in traditional managed security offerings, Integra's firewall can identify and control applications and content, as well as points of access. This method, Integra claims, can enable a larger set of security capabilities, including application visibility and control, URL filtering, IPS/IDS, antivirus, anti-spyware, and file/data content filtering. At the same time it can provide consistent enforcement of security policies to all customer facilities, including employees either in the main office or at a remote location.

Set to be available in Q4, Integra's managed security service will be available in standard, plus and premium versions.

Introducing a cloud service comes at a time when Integra is aggressively growing its fiber network reach into more buildings and expanding the availability of Ethernet over Copper (EoC) in more markets. Having a growing combination of deeper Ethernet service reach with a growing set of cloud services will help Integra up sell not only its traditional SMB customer base, but also appeal to larger regional enterprises and even government agencies via GSA Schedule 70.